Report: Cleveland City Stars, USL part ways, players released

Plain Dealer FileIn this 2008 photo, Cleveland's Mark Schulte (#13) and Charlotte's Robert Ssejjemba (#11) battle for possession in the first half of the USL Championship game.It appears that Cleveland won't have the City Stars to kick around anymore. But it might not necessarily mark an end to professional outdoor soccer in Northeast Ohio.

According to an online report at insidemnsoccer.com, the United Soccer Leagues ended its franchise agreement with the Cleveland City Stars before Thanksgiving, and a memo from team executives was sent to players, releasing them from their contracts.

Aaron Tredway, the City Stars executive director who had initiated negotiations to the sell the franchise in August, hasn't returned phone calls for weeks. A September deadline to re-up for next season came and went with no action. Representatives of the non-profit Cleveland Soccer Foundation in Twinsburg, which launched the USL franchise in 2007, could not be reached.

USL President Tim Holt wouldn't comment on the City Stars' status Friday but said in a phone interview that the league was to still hoping to field a team in Cleveland next spring.

"We are still working diligently to ensure that there is a USL franchise competing in Cleveland for the 2010 season," he said. "That's the best I can do at this stage."

Holt said the league was "exploring every option," but he wouldn't discuss specifics about a possible new franchise under new ownership.

"Yes, there's interest in the market," said Holt, who hoped to have the issue resolved by year's end.

Meanwhile, the USL itself has been in survival mode. In November, seven teams broke off to start their own league, a move that the USL is challenging.

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